In the run-up to the Diagonale, we spoke to Christine Dollhofer, Managing Director of the Vienna Film Fund. She looks back on a very successful funding year 2023 and is delighted about the increase in funding from the City of Vienna.
The year could not have started better for the Vienna Film Fund: four funded films and a series at this year’s Berlinale, projects supported by the FFW have already been invited to Rotterdam for the IFFR, as well as to Sundance and the Max Ophüls Prize festival. Now the Diagonale is just around the corner, where everything revolves around current Austrian filmmaking anyway. Testimony to a flourishing creative landscape?
Christine Dollhofer: Above all, this is testimony to a funding practice that has been cultivated over many years, in which the aim is to take a broad stance and really consider all cinematic forms from hybrid to family entertainment, from public films to artistic films. Austria has a cinema culture that is very well positioned in the short, experimental, animated, documentary and narrative formats, as well as in international distribution thanks to institutions such as Sixpack Films and Austrian Films. It is also great that the film department at the BMKÖS and the film department of the City of Vienna – both responsible for innovative film – are supporting the young generation, but are also upholding artistic cinema. The creative ideas of the existing artistic pool can flourish thanks to a continuous funding policy, which also includes support for debuts and young talent in general. What we also benefit from in Austria is the relative autonomy of the funding institutions, because the broadcasters are only involved in the second step. The system with an expert jury or selection committee, at the FFW and the Austrian Film Institute, and now also with the new financial opportunities provided by the incentive model, works very well.
Looking back at 2023, it is noticeable that Austrian films not only had a strong presence at international festivals, but also in Austrian cinemas. The market share of local productions hasn’t been this high for many years…
Christine Dollhofer: Absolutely. We had four blockbusters in which the FFW was involved, namely „Greece“, „Pulled Pork“, „The Fox“ and „New Stories from Franz“. I am very pleased that several documentaries also attracted up to 30,000 viewers last year. For example, „Feminism WTF“ and the „Elfriede Jelinek“ documentary performed very well in cinemas. Here, too, the range is evident. Audience success at home is of course great. However, we must not forget the other phases such as streaming or TV broadcasting, where the films perform just as well. And even films that may not perform so well in domestic cinemas have sold well internationally or been celebrated at numerous festivals. All distribution components should always be taken into account when drawing up a success story.
Let’s take a look at the Vienna Film Fund: How would you sum up last year’s funding year?
Christine Dollhofer: 2023 was characterized by many innovations and initiatives. The implementation of the new funding model with ÖFI+, FISA+, value creation bonus and excellence bonus on January 1, 2023 played a major role. Since then, a lot of capital has flooded the market, which has brought a lot of movement into the sector overall, many new financing modules and a lot of internationality. 2023 was also significant because a large number of projects were developed, filmed and released in the waning phase of the coronavirus pandemic. The backlog has slowly cleared. In addition, there were and are numerous structural and general social changes in the production process, such as green producing, the Code of Ethics and the child protection concept, which is now mandatory. Awareness of these issues has certainly increased in the debate within the industry. Gender budgeting has also found its way into our company without any major disputes. By 2023, we will have exceeded the 50 percent mark in the production of feature films. A lot happened last year!
How would you describe the situation in the film industry in Austria?
Christine Dollhofer: The new circumstances are challenging for production companies as well and also mean that they have to face up to the tasks mentioned above. Collective wage agreements have recently been renegotiated, and inflation at all levels is another problem. Overall, however, the volume of applications has increased enormously, meaning that competition has become even tougher. I call it the competition for good projects. Sometimes you don’t even know which great project to support first. The interaction between the Austrian funding bodies and interest groups is very positive. Everyone is pulling in the same direction, exchanging ideas and communicating together. This helps us all to move forward which was not always the case.
The new incentive model has really pushed the Austrian film industry and continues to do so. To what extent does it affect the work of the FFW? What do you think?
Christine Dollhofer: Fortunately, we have received an increase in funding of two million euros in 2024, bringing the total annual budget for all our funding channels and administration to 13.5 million euros. Since the introduction of the incentive, we have received a noticeably bigger number of applications for minority co-productions. Through ÖFI+, but also through the value creation bonus, international money can be increased in Austria. Thus it is attractive and lucrative for Austrian companies to get involved in minor projects. Not only does this create new networks and new company mergers, it also increases professionalization. We have also noticed that since the introduction of ÖFI+, smaller projects are also more likely to get involved because they can now tap into additional funding pillars. These are projects that traditionally receive BMKÖS funding in the first instance and then can apply for a combination of FFW or other state funding and ÖFI+. Another point is that since the introduction of ÖFI+, the number of applications we receive is somewhat lower, partly due to being aware that our selective funding pot does not contain as much money as ÖFI. We have to make better use of our funds, as we still have the TV funding, for example.
The incentive model was fought over for many years. Are you confident that the industry can now build on it on end?
Christine Dollhofer: It is uncertain where the cultural policy journey will take us after the elections in the fall. The incentive is therefore not set in stone forever. Regular evaluation is important so that everyone can see in black and white what added value it brings. We must always communicate well why we need the funds and what they bring to the economy. It is particularly difficult with film because it is an art form on the one hand and an economic factor on the other. The FFW’s money comes 100 percent from cultural funding, not from an economic pot. That is why we also have the task of promoting film culture and benefiting filmmakers living in Vienna.
After the fourth and final funding round in 2023, the exact distribution of gender budgeting in the Vienna Film Fund’s largest funding scheme was 52.5 percent female and 47.5 percent male. Were you surprised that the 50:50 ratio was achieved so quickly?
Christine Dollhofer: When the FFW and the ÖFI announced gender budgeting, there were brief concerns. In the meantime, we no longer receive any negative feedback. Everyone has understood that not a great deal has changed. I always say: what’s the problem? 50 percent of the money is also reserved for male colleagues. It’s not as if we sit in the jury meeting with calculators. We deal with the individual projects. The 50/50 ratio has come about quite naturally. A fluctuation margin of five percent is envisaged – so it is also possible that the pendulum will swing slightly in the other direction again in 2024. It should remain a flexible model. The important thing is that people are aware that as a production company, you have to pay attention to what material you develop and what young talent is available. In recent years, many creative talents have been developed in the areas of screenwriting, directing and production. A lot has happened.
In the most recent funding report, it was striking that there were 33 percent fewer commitments in the area of production/cinema in 2023 than in 2022. Are fluctuations of this magnitude normal?
Christine Dollhofer: It’s important to note that we had or were able to submit a large number of applications and commitments in 2021/2022 because there was the Covid overrun reserve, which is also included in the statistics for the projects as applications. This fluctuation is therefore more of an outlier, an imprecise comparison. It is better to compare 2019 with 2023: The number of applications has risen by almost 100, and the application volume has increased by almost eight million euros. In 2019, we were still able to approve 47 percent of projects in production; now it’s only 37 percent. However, there are areas such as structural funding, i.e. institutions etc., or TV funding, where we were able to fund almost 100 percent, which is definitely more than in 2019. The budget in the area of production/cinema is simply very limited. In 2023, we had 71 applications here, of which we were able to approve 26, which means just a third. This will become even less because the volume of applications is constantly increasing.
Despite the increased production volume, many producers no longer see the shortage of skilled workers as a primary problem. How do you see the situation?
Christine Dollhofer: In 2023, the shortage of skilled workers was still quite virulent. However, I would agree that the situation has calmed down. But the baby boomers will soon be retiring, so the film industry definitely needs new blood. Above all, good qualifications are important. The Chamber of Commerce and other interest groups are making efforts to promote training in the film industry. There is an awareness of the need to invest in training and create attractive working conditions in order to attract good people to the film industry. In countries like Germany, the issue of a shortage of skilled workers has calmed down somewhat, as far as I can tell, ever since streamers are acting so cautiously and producing less. But the labor market will continue to change with global developments – a keyword being AI. Creating attractive working conditions seems particularly important to me.
The FFW has long since implemented mandatory green filming regulations. Are there still areas that need to be improved?
Christine Dollhofer: Both the FFW and the ÖFI and all other funding bodies require a green film consultant to be involved in the production. These costs are recognized. This is of course an additional expense, but by bringing in trained experts, awareness of green filming is spread more widely. The crux of the matter lies somewhat in the review. The ÖFI has set up its own department in this area, led by Nina Hauser. The LAFC has also made a pioneering contribution with the Evergreen Prism. We can only be glad that we have committed and qualified people in Austria who are driving the issue forward. The main thing is to collect and evaluate data in order to identify precisely those areas where we still need to make adjustments. Us funding institutions do not always contribute to reducing CO2 emissions by imposing regional effects. We still need to make some progress here.
Excellent cue: regional effect. How high was it for FFW 2023?
Christine Dollhofer: Every euro of funding in film and TV production triggered five euros of investment in the Viennese film industry. We are very proud of that. Mind you, this is purely the Viennese film industry effect, which does not even include the other (macro)economic effects, but only the expenditure in the film industry.
What specifically is on the agenda for the Vienna Film Fund? What things are on the to-do list?
Christine Dollhofer: As far as internal organization is concerned, we were fortunately able to recently put a tick behind the now purely online-based submission system. The big challenge will be to make wise decisions with the new resources made available to us on the one hand and the increased volume of applications on the other. And to make the measures for green producing, gender budgeting, the Code of Ethics and the Child Protection Act work in practice. Generally speaking, an incredible amount of revenue is transferred to Austria through FISA+, numerous projects are shot in Vienna, many service productions that the FFW could not even support according to the guidelines, but which are nevertheless good for the location. Series development is an exciting topic for us. We are the only funding organization in Austria that promotes the development of series formats. I am delighted that we have supported the first Prime Video series produced in-house, „Beasts Like Us“ by Rundfilm. We also supported the follow-up project „Drunter und Drüber“. As far as cinema is concerned, I hope that the Austrian industry will continue its success story with audience successes such as Josef Hader’s „Andrea Gets a Divorce“ and festival successes such as „The Devil’s Bath“ and „Sleeping with a Tiger“ (both currently still awaiting theatrical release).
Barbara Schuster